


Cold Since the Cave-In

by nyagosstar



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Face-Fucking, Hurt/Comfort, Light Dom/sub, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:45:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4568436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyagosstar/pseuds/nyagosstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were no spiders in the cave, but that didn't mean it was free of danger. After being caught in a cave-in Bull and Dorian have a discussion about where all their flirtation was headed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Since the Cave-In

“You know, when I joined the Inquisition, I thought it would be a lot more freedom fighting and significantly less caves.” A drip of cold water hit the back of Dorian’s neck and began a slow crawl down his spine. He sighed. It was hardly worth the effort to wipe it away, not when it would be replaced with another and another. At least there weren’t any spiders. Yet.

No one else seemed to mind the caves, so much, so Dorian said nothing further, just kept trekking on behind Evelyn who seemed certain they would find something interesting eventually. How she kept track of where they were when there was no outside light was a bit of a mystery, but then she was the Herald of Andraste. Perhaps the Divine granted her special map making powers. 

Still, the hike seemed aimless. No one else seemed to want to voice the opinion that perhaps they should turn back before they found the other side of the mountain. Or if they were especially lucky, in a dragon’s lair.

But Evelyn’s instincts were right and the narrow passage opened out into a broad room. There was a fire burning in a pit along the side wall along with the remnants of a campsite. They harvested deep mushrooms and picked up some spare change from piles of trash. Dorian fervently hoped that in Varric’s version of events, he detailed in loving, flowing script how hard up for cash the Inquisition was in its early days that they often took coin off corpses to fund the war effort.

At the back wall, there was a little shrine and a pedestal with a curious looking stone. Evelyn set off toward it as soon as she picked the rest of the camp clean. 

“I don’t think—“ was as far as Dorian got before Evelyn plucked the stone from the pedestal. The room began to shake, a deep rumble all around them as the mountain over their heads shifted. 

“Out! Out now!” Evelyn waved them toward the tunnel, but it was too late. Before Dorian could finish the Barrier spell to offer a slim line of protection, something struck him from behind and he went down face first into the dirt.

#

“Dorian. Come on, wake up.” Wide, firm hands touched his shoulder and ran up to his face. He wanted to respond, but everything hurt. “I think he’s bleeding.” Bull. It was Bull touching him.

“We’re all going to be bleeding if he doesn’t get up.” A smaller hand, colder tapped his cheek. “Come on, Dorian. We need you.”

He couldn’t resist a call from the Inquisitor. Dorian opened his eyes to more darkness. “Am I blind?” His head was made of shards of metal screeching against each other. The rest of his body wasn’t far behind. He tried to sit and gasped as the pain intensified: his head, his shoulder, his leg. 

“Take it easy, big guy. You’re not blind, it’s just dark.”

“Less explanations, more Barriers. The ceiling is about ready to come down on us.”

The urgency in Evelyn’s voice, her tone of command had Dorian casting his Barrier without thought. Around them, the room shifted and a rain of rocks fell, but the barriers held. He leaned back into Bull’s touch and closed his eyes, if he could just rest, just for a moment it might all begin to make sense.

Someone snapped a finger in front of his face and he jerked awake. “You have to stay with us.” Evelyn in command again. It would be easier to track things if he could see.

“We’re working on a light,” Evelyn said. He wasn’t aware he’d spoken aloud. “Here.” She pushed cloth to his mouth. “Suck on this. The bottles for the healing potions broke in the collapse, but there’s still some in the fabric of the bag.”

He sucked weakly at the fabric, trying not to taste it or think too hard about where it had been. It helped, a little. His mind was a clearer, but mostly it highlighted the danger of their situation and the pain in his body. “Lyrium?”

“Those made it through, we have three left.” Off to the left, there was a spark of light and then a fire. It was small, but large enough to illuminate their tiny pocket of space. Rock pressed in on them from all directions. A column overhead had crashed into the wall and saved them from immediate death, though it looked tenuous and other parts of the ceiling and walls continued to fall in on them. 

“No one else is hurt, Boss.”

Dorian closed his eyes instead of laughing. “Lucky me.”

“Plans, people. I need a way to get us out of here and fast.” Evelyn’s voice was firm, though her hands were gentle as she applied a cloth to the wound on his head. “Dorian’s only going to be able to cast barriers for us for long.”

Varric’s gruff voice came from the other side of the little bubble of safety. “We’re too far in to dig out ourselves. And it’s going to be hours before anyone knows we’re missing.”

“I asked for ideas, Varric.”

They started bickering and Dorian turned his head to block out the sound. Even that small movement was enough to send a shard of pain through his skull down to his shoulder. Bull leaned in and took over Evelyn’s job of holding the cloth to Dorian’s head. “How’re you doing there, big guy?” He ran his hand over Dorian’s chest pressing gently against his ribs.

“My leg hurts.” Most of him hurt, but his leg was more painful than the rest.”

“Makes sense. There’s a good bit of mountain resting on it, right now.”

He couldn’t raise his body up to look, but now that he knew, he could feel the pressure in addition to the pain. “Oh.” Wet. His leg felt wet. He didn’t remember puddles on the way in. “This is bad, isn’t it?”

Bull shrugged, but looked way. “I think we’ve been in worse. The second dragon in Emprise was close.”

Freezing from the permanent snow, freezing from the ice blasts the dragon shot in their direction. It took hours to take down that dragon, so long that when it was done, Dorian could only collapse in a grateful pile. Venatori, Darkspawn, Corepheus himself could have shown up and Dorian wouldn’t have put up a fight. After they hauled themselves back to camp, Dorian slept for more than twelve hours and still felt drained.

When Bull’s touch moved to his arm, the pain in his shoulder spiked, drowning out his leg and head. “Okay, it’s okay,” Bull soothes, removing his hand. “I think your shoulder’s broken too.”

“Yeah, it does not feel right at all.” He closed his eyes. He only wanted a moment of rest, but Bull prodded him. 

“Not so fast. You know you have to stay awake with head injuries.” He changed out the cloth on Dorian’s head. He then took off his belt and eased it around the thigh of Dorian’s trapped leg. 

“I imagined this quite a bit differently. You seem like the type for restraints, but this is all a bit grim.”

Bull laughed. “Believe me, if you ever take me up on my offer, I’ve got much nicer things in mind for you.” His hands were gentle and his work efficient, but it still hurt badly enough that Dorian’s vision whited out when Bull tightened the belt. 

When he could speak, he tried to follow the thread of their conversation. It was harder than he expected. “What offer?”

“Dorian.” He sounded disappointed. “I know you’re a bright guy.”

He could feel the Barrier beginning to weaken. Another shift in the mountain sent a rain of rock down on them and some of the larger chunks got through. He focused as best as he could and cast another Barrier. It left him breathless. “You weren’t serious. No one who’s serious is that obvious. It was just for a laugh, like Sera and the bees.”

Bull moved back to sit next to his head, his fingers gentle against Dorian’s temple as he brushed back hair from Dorian’s eyes. “So, because I was real clear about what I wanted, I’m not serious? Do you know how that sounds?”

He hummed, because speaking was too much of an effort. 

“Varric, can you come sit with him, I want to talk to the Boss.”

That was worth the effort. “That bad?”

“You’re fine,” Bull said, firm and just a touch angry. But he rose and moved away, and Varric took his place, holding the cloth to Dorian’s head.

“How’re you doing, there, Sparkler?”

“Not so sparkly at the moment.” He shivered and let out a miserable moan as the motion triggered all of his hurts. “When did it get so cold.”

Varric’s rough hands touched his face and throat. “Let me see if we’ve got anything to keep you warm.” He got up and Dorian took the opportunity to rest his eyes for just a moment.

“Dorian! Dorian. Barrier!”

He jerked at the Inquisitor’s insistent command, casting the Barrier before he was fully aware. The effort left him weak, though, his reserves lower than they should be after a couple of Barrier spells. “I’ll need Lyrium soon.”

Bull was back at his side. “I’ve seen you fight longer than this without out.”

“It is his injuries. Soon, even the Lyrium won’t be enough. He hurts. Oh, how he hurts.” Cole’s quiet croon filled their little alcove and Dorian couldn’t even jerk in surprise. “I heard you all the way at camp. Your hurts strong enough to call across the mountain.”

“Cole.” Evelyn sighed in relief. “I didn’t think you could move through so much physical stone.”

“His need is great. Vivienne and Solas are moving the mountain to get to you. They wanted you to know.” He moved to Dorian, his hands hovering over his head, his shoulder, his leg. “He hurts.”

“Well done, you. I don’t think they noticed under all the blood and unconsciousness.” The pain made him snappy. He’d feel bad about it once they were in the daylight.

“Protect, protect, he shouldn’t be hurting for me. I take the wounds. I block his body with my own. Built to take the blows, Tama said.”

“All right,” Bull huffed and herded Cole away. “Can you go back and tell them to hurry, please?”

After Cole left, it was a race of endurance. Dorian had to hold out until help arrived. He dozed between spells, harder to wake each time, colder each time. His spells were weaker and he was sick on Lyrium. Too many potions in too short a time. He barely kept the last one down as Bull held it to his lips.

“Come on, open those pretty eyes.”

Dorian snorted instead of speaking.

“What? You think I don’t know pretty when I see it? I’m a great collector of pretty things.” He wiped away the drops of potion Dorian didn’t manage to swallow down. “Not long now. Just give us another spell.”

It took all of his concentration, but he pushed out another Barrier and then collapsed back, heaving for breath. He was cold all the time, even in sleep, he dreamed of being trapped under a snow bank, the ice crystals freezing against his cheeks and eye lashes. Sneaking down the back of his collar, seeping into his boots. 

“I hear something.” Varric stood where the entrance to the tunnel out of the cave had been. “I think they’re close.”

Dorian closed his eyes. If they were close, he could rest. He could finally, really rest. Bull, the bastard, pulled him out of it.

“Not so fast, just because they’re close doesn’t mean they’re here. You stay with me until we see Solas’ shiny head, yeah?”

Dorian whined. His body was telling him it wanted to sleep. It wanted to be asleep and every second it was not was making things worse.

“I know. It’s just a little longer.” He settled a hand on Dorian’s chest, a warm point of connection. “When we’re out of here and you’re feeling a bit more in one piece, I’ll buy you a drink and see if I can’t be a little more subtle in my intentions.”

That sounded nice. Dorian nodded and tried not to fall asleep. He had to cast two more Barriers, each weaker than the last before Vivienne finally broke through into the cave and he couldn’t hold out any longer.

#

Dorian had no memory of their extraction from the cave, nor of the trip back to camp. He had vague impression of the journey back to Skyhold, loaded in the back of a cart, floating on potions until they could reach a healer. Solas and Vivienne could only do so much on the open road.

At Skyhold, under the care of the healers, Dorian spent two weeks trapped in a bed as his body worked to repair itself. He had to recover both from the injuries and the accelerated healing forced on him by potions and magic. Bull visited him every day. He was there when Dorian was released.

“Expect weakness in your shoulder and leg.” The healer handed over a cane. “Be careful of the stairs as you gain back your strength. You don’t need to break this one again any time soon.”

Dorian took the cane, though he intended to switch it out with his staff as soon as he could make it to his room. “Thank you.”

“Come see me if something doesn’t feel right.”

Dorian nodded and left the room, allowing Bull to hold the door for him and grateful for his strong hand at the base of Dorian’s spine, leading him from the room.

“You want to head up to your room or can I buy you your first drink of freedom?”

Dorian looked longingly at the tavern, but knew he didn’t have it in him to walk down to the Herald’s Rest and then back up to his rooms in one day. The Healers had him taking short trips around the rooms, to build back up his strength. He was still in no shape for regular exercise.

“To my room, I’m afraid.” Dorian made slow progress across the keep with Bull’s steady presence at his shoulder. By the time he reached his room, winded and achy, he was ready for bed again, though he’d just been exhilarated by the idea of leaving it. “I’m not going to be much in the way of company, I’m afraid.”

Bull turned down his bed, set his cane in easy reach, and help Dorian settle against the pillows. “I don’t mind.”

“Maker, but it’s nice to be back in my room.” Without the lingering scent of elfroot clinging to everything and the constant pacing of the healers, he might be able to rest.

“Rest up fast. The Boss has us headed out tomorrow and she’s taking Solas since you’re out of commission.”

Dorian had taken for granted that Bull was with him during his recovery. Other members the inner circle had been to see him, but none so regularly as Bull. Now that he considered it, it seemed foolish to think they would wait for him to recover before heading out again. “Oh, so you’ll be off, then?”

“A few weeks at least.” Bull grinned and took a seat next to Dorian’s bed, his huge frame setting the chair to creaking. “Aw, are you going to miss me?”

With a roll of his eyes, Dorian pulled up his blankets. It wasn’t particularly cold in Skyhold, but he hadn’t been able to shake the chill that snuck into his bones in the cave. “Please. I’ll be happy for a chance at some solitude.”

“Should I go, let you get a head start?” Bull jerked his thumb to the door, but didn’t make an effort to rise.

“No, you should get your fill of my charming presence to keep you company during your lonely nights on the road.” He expected Bull to make some joke about things being filled, but Bull just relaxed into his seat and launched into a story about the time the Chargers were stuck hiding out in a brothel in Denerim for two weeks and ended up washing laundry to pay for their stay.

He stood to leave when Dorian was too drowsy to follow the plot of his story. “Take care of yourself, big guy.”

Dorian meant to say something about how it was Bull who should be careful, or how he should avoid dragons or something, but all that came out was, “You, too.”

The weeks without Bull’s constant company were dreadful. Trapped in his room except for short jaunts that left him winded and cranky, Dorian read and then re-read everything he had on hand. The books brought to him by friends were a slight diversion at best. 

He started taking longer trips on his own out of spite so he could make it to the tavern or to the library for company. By the time the Inquisitor returned, he was almost his old self. Certainly too much of his old self to be seen standing at the gates like some fawning teenager waiting for the Inquisitor to ride through, her party triumphant. He settled himself in the library and waited. If Bull missed him he would know where to find him.

It was dark, the library quiet and empty before Dorian admitted to himself that Bull wasn’t coming.

#

He took the long way back to his room, letting the night air cool his face and wake him up a bit. The imagined rejection stung more than he expected. He thought, well. Dorian shook his head. It didn’t matter what he thought. Bull might come around the following day and they could catch up. He was probably celebrating with the Chargers and that was not a pack of people Dorian was interesting in exposing so much of his life to.

He opened his door and instead of being greeted with a dark, cold room, the fire was lit and Bull was stretched out on his bed, angled toward the door. Naked.

“I thought about going more subtle, but then figured it’s not really my style.” He grinned. “See something you like?”

Dorian closed the door behind him and then leaned against it for support. “Does this work for you?”

“Honesty? Or showing up naked in someone’s room? About even odds both accounts.”

As he eased into the room, Dorian tried not to look, but there was just so much of him. Thick thighs, broad shoulders, soft, rounded belly. “And if I asked you to leave?” His voice was so hoarse he hardly recognized it.

“Then I put on my pants and go, no hard feelings.” He chuckled a little at his choice of words. “Do you want me to go?”

He’d been waiting, weeks of recovery, weeks of Bull’s absence for this. “If you try to leave I’ll set you on fire.”

Bull laughed, full throated and raucous, and pulled him onto the bed. Dorian hadn’t realized he kept walked toward the bed. “That’s what I like to hear.” Bull had him on the bed, on his back in seconds. Instead of feeling threatened or worried, Dorian felt secure. Cold since the cave in, Bull was wonderfully warm, his body emanating heat like the fire itself. “Aren’t you lovely? Like being handled a bit?”

Instead of answering, Dorian leaned up for a kiss, his hands sliding across Bull’s chest to rest on the massive muscles of his shoulders. Bull grinned against his lips and then did his best to devour Dorian’s mouth. He bit at Dorian’s lips, licked at his teeth. One hand came down to hold Dorian’s head in place as Bull thrust his tongue against Dorian’s over and over until Dorian was achingly hard in his leathers.

When he pulled back, Dorian tried to follow. Bull shifted his thumb up over Dorian’s chin and rubbed against his lip. “What do you want?”

Dorian tongued at Bull’s thumb, at a loss. Answering questions in the heat of the moment seemed a bit poorly planned or overly conscientious. “I would like you to stop asking questions and get back to kissing me.”

Instead of obliging, Bull continued to caress Dorian’s lip. “Is that all you want? Do you want me to jerk you off, suck you, fuck you.” He rolled his hips, his naked cock dragging along the fabric of Dorian’s leather covered hip.

“I have to choose just one?” He tried to sound nonchalant, but it didn’t quite come out that way. What he wanted hadn’t been on Bull’s list. He slid his hand down from Bull’s shoulder, over his side to finally wrap his hand around Bull’s cock, squeezing.

“Or maybe you had something else in mind.” He thrust into Dorian’s grip, his breath catching.

Dorian bit at Bull’s thumb. “Fuck my face.”

Bull growled and thrust his thumb into Dorian’s mouth as his cock twitched in Dorian’s hand. “Let’s get you out of these clothes.”

“No. I like it.” Bound and constricted by his clothing while his partner was naked and free. “Come up here,” he urged, pulling Bull by the cock until he was kneeling over Dorian’s face, closing him in between muscular thighs where the scent of him was so strong. He must have bathed after arriving, but bound in such a close space there was no mistaking the scent of him. He licked his lips as Bull stroked himself just inches from Dorian’s mouth. Up close he was huge, bigger than the handful Dorian felt just moments before. He couldn’t wait and arced up to catch the tip with his lips. 

Bull pushed him back, a strong grip in his hair, arranged his head to his liking and then smeared his lips with the head of his cock, already leaking. “Tap my thigh,” he took hold of Dorian’s hand and placed it on his thigh. “If it gets too much.”

At Dorian’s nod, he took hold of his cock, stroked down the length twice and then began feeding it into Dorian’s mouth. Bull was huge. Even keeping his jaw loose and his mouth wide open he still strained the boundaries of comfort. The delicate skin at the corners of his mouth was already sore and Bull was no were near seated. It was wonderful. He could imagine himself tucked under a desk holding Bull’s cock in his mouth as he wrote his correspondence, waiting for Bull to use him properly. He moaned at the thought and Bull thrust in the final few inches, rubbing against Dorian’s throat as he swallowed to avoid gagging.

Bull held very still, the tension in his thighs a testament to his need. “Okay?”

Unable to nod, Dorian gave a long slow blink and soothed the warm skin of Bull’s thigh under his hand. 

“Remember, all you have to do is tap.” Bull tightened his grip in Dorian’s hair, drew back until just the tip of his cock lingered behind Dorian’s lips and then thrust in, short hard stokes that tested the edges of Dorian’s control. He held on to Bull’s thighs, urging him forward, harder and faster. He breathed when he could, his eyes watering from the pressure as he sucked and swallowed, feeling completely enveloped by Bull.

As he thrust into Dorian’s mouth, Bull kept up a steady stream of encouragement and praise. “So good, Dorian. Knew you would be so good. Look at you. Perfect.” He thrust in and held still for a moment but the rush of come didn’t flood Dorian’s mouth. Instead Bull circled his hips, his fingers coming to push against Dorian’s cheeks and press on his cock from the outside. “Do you want to come?” he asked.

Dorian couldn’t nod, couldn’t touch himself with his death grip on Bull’s thighs but the distant desire to come was suddenly all there was in his mind. He moaned and Bull thrust in again. 

“Can you come from this? Just from this?”

Dorian arched up as best he could, shivering in his desire for release. 

“I bet you could. We’ll work on that.” Bull pulled back and thrust in again as he reached back and squeezed Dorian’s cock through his leathers. Just that touch was enough and Dorian came, his body jerking, this throat tightening around Bull’s cock and then relaxing even further as Bull slid in once, twice and then shot down Dorian’s throat. He tried to swallow it down, but he was too overwhelmed and most of it slid from the corners of his mouth.

Bull pulled out and eased off the bed while Dorian tried to pull himself together. His lips and throat felt raw, well used and the rest of his body was relaxed in the way that came with a really great orgasm. He tracked Bull’s movements across the room where he gathered a cloth and returned to Dorian’s side to wipe at his face and then peeled him from his clothes, clearing up the evidence of Dorian’s release as well. When he crawled back in bed the very last of the tension Dorian was carrying slipped away. 

“You’re not leaving.” His voice was pleasantly wrecked.

Bull pulled him close, running his hands along the planes of Dorian’s shoulders. “And walk away from this? You’re a brighter guy than that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, I don't know what to do with this. I mean for a simple H/C story with cave ins and head wounds and ended up with the porniest thing I've ever put my name to. So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
